2007 Holiday Gift Ideas: Games

The hottest game of the season? Well, technically it's probably Halo
3, but FPS shooters are so last century, don't you think?

The game I am most interested in seeing is Super Mario Galaxy. Yes,
the 897th sequel to Donkey Kong is coming out for the Nintendo Wii and
if you believe the buzz, it leaves the previous 896 games in the dust.

OK, 897th might be a slight exaggeration. It is over 100 though...

Anyway, this is a fully 3D game with a variety of physics models as
Mario once more tries to rescue the princess, this time whilst
traveling through space. Amazingly enough, Nintendo has managed to
take the barrel-dodging Mario through over 25 years of mostly
innovative and decent games. The look and play of Mario Galaxy has
gotten rave reviews and although I haven't been able to play it yet,
it's on my "I really want" list for this year. Along with a Wii to
play it on.

<http://wii.nintendo.com/site/supermariogalaxy/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Galaxy>

My 10 year old son suggests Lego Star Wars I and II as two of the best games in the universe. I do know that he enjoys playing these, and that the Star Wars theme is consistently carried out in the game. He also has enjoyed introducing some of his friends to this game and they seem to all enjoy it quite heartily.

Gaming on the Mac is only slightly more alive this year than last
year, so I'll go straight to console games :-)

Lewis Butler has already mentioned it, but I'd like to repeat the
suggestion: Get "Super Mario Galaxy" for the Wii. It's really an
amazing game. gamerankings.com, a site which aggregates game review
scores from several publications, currently lists it as the highest
rated game of all times, beating out such classics as "The Legend of
Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and "Metroid Prime". The site is a great
resource for people who don't usually buy games, by the way. Instead
of getting your nephew some random movie license game (which is
probably rather bad), go to gamerankings.com or metacritic.com and
find a game that is actually good :-)

The problem with the game is that you need a Wii; if you intend to get
a Wii as a gift, buy one *now*. Nintendo has already announced that
despite increasing production to 1.8 million Wiis per month, they will
not be able to satisfy demand during Christmas (actually, they haven't
been able to satisfy demand all year, so it's not really surprising
news).

If your friend already owns a Wii and need additional gaming gift
suggestions, consider the following games:

EA Playground is a fun multiplayer game in the vein of Wii Sports.
It's suitable for children and adults.

Mario Party 8 is a "virtual board game" with tons of fun minigames. It
didn't get great reviews, but it's a load of fun when played with
friends or family.

If you have a friend who used to play Adventure games like Monkey
Island, but stopped because publishers stopped making them, get him or
her "Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure" for the Wii. Both the
Wii and the DS have been getting a few great new Adventure games
recently, but this is the absolute cream of the crop. Great, great
game.

For adults who own Wiis and are looking for a longer, non-minigame
challenge, consider gifting them "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" or
"Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition".

For your Nintendo DS owning friends, consider "The Legend of Zelda:
Phantom Hourglass", "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and
Tribulations", "Sonic Rush Adventure" or, if you can find it,
"Undercover: Dual Motives" or "Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland"
(available as import only).

For your friends who own a PS3, I recommend "Call of Duty 4: Modern
Warfare", "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction", "Skate" and
"Uncharted: Drake's Fortune". "Call of Duty" and "Uncharted" may not
be suitable for children.

And for those who need a gift for their Xbox 360 owning pals, Halo 3
is the obvious choice. But since most 360 owners already have that,
"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", "The Orange Box", "Mass Effect" and
"BioShock" are great alternatives. None of these games are suitable
for children.

Finally, there's a new Guitar Hero out. This is a fun game where
players pretend to play a guitar. It's called "Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock", it's available for all consoles, and it rocks.
Another great "pretend to make music" game is "Rock Band".

lukas

Oh I love this time of the year...

This year, the hot game for my wife and I has again been Sudoku. Last
year I talked about how Sudoku Susser -- http://www.madoverlord.com/projects/sudoku.t
  -- taught me everything I needed to know and thus I got bored with
the puzzles. Well, then I discovered IronSudoku.com and the obsession
came back stronger than ever. There is a new puzzle ever day. Next to
the puzzle is a chat area where people solving can kibbitz with one
another. Rarely does anyone post a puzzle spoiler. My wife and I both
paid our one-time $14.95 fees (each) to become members allowing us
full access to the archives of every puzzle ever and the ability to
save a current puzzle and come back to it at a later time. We play
most days and are slowly moving up in the rankings. The site provides
excellent gameplay (including two colors of pencil marks) and a
friendly community. Look for us ("Andy" and "Ann") and say hi!

In my nearly non-existent downtime this year, I play a fair amount of
World of Warcraft -- http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ This massively-
multiplayer-online-role-playing game (MMORPG) has been around for some
years now but it keeps getting better and the game remains fun. In
addition to the sheer joy of hack and slash fun, there's also the
interaction with other people through online organizations called
guilds. In addition to adventuring together, we also host dueling
tournaments, and online parties (and even a wedding, recently). WoW is
not for everyone and if you stop and think about how expensive it can
get over the long term, it can be daunting. But I feel I get more out
of my $15 per month than I do out of my more expensive cable TV bill.

Another family favorite has been Bejeweled 2 Deluxe -- http://www.macgamestore.com/detail.php?ProductID=463
  -- Like Sudoku, it's good for mindless puzzle fun which, in our busy
lives, is often very needed and welcome. I especially like the hidden
mode (unlocked after you score sufficiently highly) in which gravity
reverses itself every time you remove gems from the board.

This year, the big hit in the under 8 set in our household has been
Kid Pix Deluxe 3X -- http://www.mackiev.com/kid_pix.html -- This
program has been around for ages in one form or another. But the
latest incarnation is pure creative fun. My wife and I have been known
to sit down and play with it when our son has gone to bed. You can
create static pictures, animations, mess with pictures from your
iPhoto library (non-destructively!) and a great deal more.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not put in my annual plug for
Solitaire 'Til Dawn X -- http://www.semicolon.com/STDX.html -- I
still have never found a better Solitaire card game on any platform.
And believe me, I've tried quite a few of them. The interface is
simple, the games fun, and the statistics interesting and useful. What
more could you ask for? There's a reason I've plugged it this many
years in a row. It's the one game I can't live without.


Andy J. Williams Affleck
<http://AndyAffleck.com>

Author: Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac <http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/podcasting-mac.html
 >

Our boy, who's soon turning 8, has been enjoying Battle for Wesnoth
for a few years. I enjoy it too when I have the time (!)

Wesnoth is a polished, open-source, fantasy turn-based strategy game,
for single player against AI, multiplayer, or multiplayer online.

Although a free game may seem like a strange present, the world is so
busy that taking 5 minutes to show a friend through a game you think
they'll enjoy can be its own gift.

You can easily build your own maps with the editor, or by learning the
Wesnoth Markup Language you can design your own races and campaigns--
which can then be shared with the community.

Our boy also notes it's a great game, you can play different games at
different levels, and it's easy to get the hang of.

<http://www.wesnoth.org/>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesnoth>

On Nov 23, 2007, at 9:54 AM, Andy Affleck wrote:
> [IronSudoku.com] provides
> excellent gameplay (including two colors of pencil marks) and a
> friendly community. Look for us ("Andy" and "Ann") and say hi!

That's "Andy" and "aa" -- my wife isn't as much of a net.exhibitionist
as I am :)

-A